Dispatches from the front XXXVII - Last post of the year.

It's been a while since the last dispatch from the front....... 

Time for an end of year review and some annual awards to dish out..... :-)

Unit or Unit of the Year.

Looking back over this years painting efforts I thought it would be interesting on which units where the most enjoyable to get on the table. 

The paint count this year was not to bad at all.

Over 150 15mm Foot Figures, 24 Cavalry, 220 28mm Foot, 30 28mm Mounted Figures and around 20 buildings and Terrain pieces.

The winner has to be the men of Massachusetts. 

At the time these 10mm Pendraken miniatures were far too many in one go... but 10 months later and reflecting on the overall output it was great to get 5 units on the table in one go. 

Rule set of the year.

It has to be Lion Rampant - They are so flexible and have provided numerous well balanced games. The Outremer games have kept the paint table ticking over.

More next year that's for sure.

Game of the year.

This was a tough one, but based on the look, feel and challenge playing VC forces against a mobile well armed US force it has to be La Drang Valley - Dust, Tears & Dice: Ia Drang Valley 1965 - Force on Force. We played using Force on Force which gave a great feel for the period.

Book of the Year.

Saul David - Tunisgrad a great read that takes you from the trenches to the generals map table. Inspiration for future games that's for sure.

Near miss.

This was a fun one... Projects or Rabbit holes that almost resulted in another project - Inspiration can come from a range of things. A weekend trip to Barcelona and a sense you had seen this building before. 

Several years ago I completed a Nationalist Spanish force - I was almost tempted to build an CNT Militia force I put it down to too much sangria.

Find of the Year.

Blitzkrieg Workshop - Printed and Painted WW2 vehicles - Items for sale by blitzkriegworkshop | eBay

£22.50 for a ready painted Tiger I

Now that's good value for money.

Save from the brink.

I must be getting old but the past 12 months I have seen several trusted brands wind up or retire. It was great to see Pendraken acquire Ironclad Miniatures and keep them in the market they had a great range of figures and terrain it would have been a shame to see them disappear. 

It's been a productive 12 months it was good to finish off the American War of Independence project with more than enough completed for most encounters especially using the Rebels and Patriot rules they play really well and have resulted in some great games - This year finally Lexington and Concorde over a couple of days.

The Crusades project is almost complete definitely a project that got out of hand.... so many cavalry. I bloody hate cavalry. With two more Arab units to go... the aim is get these done before the return to work on the 5th.

So what for 2026

The Christmas haul is a hint.

The occasional Aztec project continues with some additional cavalry, more Japanese for the January project more on that below and some US Rangers for Operation Torch - Curse you Saul David.

I have taken my first dip into 3D prints, having purchased the occasional mini this is the first major army purchase. I can't see myself buying a printer especially as there are lots of people popping up with print on demand businesses. Good to get a friendly local supplier who I can chat to about purchases and get them picked up within a few days. 

A couple of shots of the work in progress.

With an eye for the lesser known periods I fancied some Chinese for WW2 I already have plenty of terrain for the Far East and Japanese troops already painted they seemed like the perfect choice. There are some great files available for the Chinese army in a mix of headgear and supporting armour from Panzer II's to French FT17's.

These are the first batch a mix of the 88th Division in German kit.

Plenty more in British Issue helmets.

With a mix of uniforms ranging from Blue to Khaki they will certainly look that little bit different on the table... Not overly bother by Rules at this stage - Perhaps Chain of Command, Bolt Action V2 or even Xenos Rampant (Tweaked for WW2)

Having gone all in and purchased enough for 6-8 squads plus supports it will be a refreshing change from the Crusades.

Have a great new year everyone.

Babbage in the Crusades - First outing.

Games have been hard to come by of late.... but with festivities nearly upon us a well earned break and a chance to get some painting in and who knows perhaps some additional projects.... If I made the nice list :-)

I did manage to give the Babbage rules a run out and with the aid of the secret wargamers friend made a few slight revisions.

A follow on game with the Dust and Tears campaign which saw the remaining Crusaders looking to advance across the table defeating any Arab forces along the way. The Christians started in the right hand corner with the orange dots representing possible Arab forces. 

The skirmishers and light units moved forwards and triggered a number of Arab units giving the Christians a chance to order their lines ahead of any Arab assault.

Massed archery hopes to slow the Muslim advance and the hordes of light cavalry.

The Arab infantry faired no better from the Archers and Crossbows lightly armed spearmen held the line but were losing men at a rapid rate.

The Crusader Warriors came forward sensing a gap in the Arab line.

A clash in the centre of the table as the fanatic swordsmen met the Arab Spearmen.

As the Arabs fell back they were set upon by the elite Knights. Another defending unit wiped from the table.

The Christians were not having everything their own way, they were losing valuable troops, half the Knights were killed or wounded alongside a number of warriors. This would make the next encounter a challenge.

All in all not a bad first outing.

Skirmishers really prove there worth flushing out the various hot spots... The ability for Arab units to disappear and reappear on the flanks or ahead of the advancing Christian forces made it quite a challenge and force the Christians push against the known units to restrict the likelihood of them coming back elsewhere. The Christians need to think about sticking together as being out numbered and isolated will make the Arabs more aggressive.

More next year I am sure....

Thinking about the Christmas break - This was quite a shock - Dust, Tears & Dice: Dispatched from the Front XXXIV - Twixmas Projects

Two of the Arab cavalry units are still on the paint table - Can I get them done before New Years Day?

Best cancel all visitors :-)

Christmas Shoot out 2025

The annual Christmas shoot out at the Wyre Forest Club and 10 rival gangs arrive to spread some Christmas cheer. 

The mission is simple scattered across the table are 50 presents which have fallen from Santa's sleigh, players must pick them up and drop them into the festive zone in the centre of the table, due to the aura of goodwill no one is allowed to shoot in the zone.

For each present dropped into the zone players receive one point.

We used a cut down version of Dead Man's Hands to keep the game moving along, each player entered on a table edge, players were not allowed to shoot their immediate neighbours until the first two rounds had passed. Many players used the opportunity to rush to grab some early presents.

It's not long before the lead if flying.

The native warband lacking in fire power were pretty handy with the tomahawk scalping a number of characters including the all female posse - shocking behaviour....

Marching down the street took some balls - but it also attracted a whole lot of fire. The not some magnificent seven quickly became the fragile four and then the tragic three.

For many picking up a present often resulted in a hail of bullets coming your way... Santa's presents were soon littered across the table.

In the centre of the table and the safe zone players having dropped off presents used the magic circle to step out shoot and step back in - hardly the Christmas Spirit.

The final round and a mad rush for the present drop with 4 players all within one present of one another. In the end the Cinderella Cattle Company bagging a late win by one present :-)

Great fun - everybody got to take an active part, with individual firefights taking place across the table, so many mini encounters in back alleys and shop doorways.

Merry Christmas......

Mr Babbage in the Crusades - Solo Rule Mechanism.

Lots of travelling of late, but it gave me the opportunity to worth through some ideas around the unit generation for the Outremer games on the assumption that all players took a role of the Christian forces. Based on Daniel Mersey's - The Men who would be kings Rules for Mr Babbage, with a blind placement from Joe Legan's Platoon Forward.

Mr Babbage in the Crusades

When determining what enemy forces are being faced use the number of regular units in the Christian force to generate the number of ‘blinds’ in the Arab force, the only variant to this is that for each Elite units in the Christian force this generates two ‘blinds’.

Blinds are placed on the table based on the scenario generated.

The blinds should be placed representing the opposing forces placed in the best possible position on the table to defeat the Christian forces. You won’t known what these forces are until rolled, this creates a challenge that tough terrain might be lightly defended or other areas you face overwhelming concentrations of enemy forces.

During the game each ‘Blind’ is diced for when spotted within 24” of the opposing unit. This should encourage the scouting of terrain with light cavalry or skirmishers. Only unbattered units are able to take this test.

Arab Deployment.

At any point 1 General may be added to one Arab deployment.

Dice Roll	Outcome	Positioning
1-2	No Arabs appear in front of your units appear this turn.	Too far away to be placed on the table for now.
3	1 Arab Unit Roll for type. 1-4 Spear 4-7 Bow/Skirmish 8 Warriors	Roll Another Dice. 1-6 Stay in Position. 7-8 12” towards closest Friendly unit if none stay in position. But not within 12” of an enemy unit.
4	1 Arab Unit Roll for type. 1-2 Spear 3-4 Bow/Skirmish 5 Warriors/Elite Foot 6-7 Light Cavalry 8 Heavy/Elite Cavalry	Roll Another Dice. 1-6 Stay in Position. 7-8 12” towards closest Friendly unit if none stay in position. But not within 12” of an enemy unit.
5	2 Arab Unit Roll for type. 1-2 Spear 3-4 Bow/Skirmish 5 Warriors/Elite Foot 6-7 Light Cavalry 8 Heavy/Elite Cavalry	Roll Another Dice. 1-4 Stay in Position. 5-6 12” towards closest Friendly unit if none stay in position. 7-8 12” towards closest enemy unit if skirmish or bow armed light cavalry others stay in place.
6	2 Arab Unit Roll for type. 1-3 Light Cavalry 4-5 Medium/Heavy Cavalry 6 Elite Cavalry	Roll Another Dice. 1-4 Stay in Position. 5-6 12” towards closest Friendly unit if none stay in position. 7-8 12” towards closest enemy unit if skirmish or bow armed light cavalry others stay in place.

Arab Actions

Roll on the following chart to decide outcome, an activation roll is still required but a failure does halt the Arab turn.

Dice Roll	Outcome	Positioning
1 or less	Slink away	Remove from play (Roll immediately on Babbage Table 3)
2	Act with Caution	Missile units advance to within missile range. Skirmish troops may skirmish forwards if within range. Others remain in place.
3-4	Advance	Missile units advance to within short missile range. All others move forwards with a move action but will not contact.
5	Charge!!!	Missile units advance to within short missile range, remaining stationary and shoot if already within range. All others move forwards with a charge action if within range if not move towards nearest enemy.
6+	Charge!!! Religious fervour.	Missile units advance to within short missile range, remaining stationary and shoot if already within range. All others move forwards with a charge action if within range if not move towards nearest enemy. If outside of 12” may add +D6” of movement to their move.
Dice Modifiers +1 If able to contact Christian Unit. +1 If Arab Elite Unit. -1 If Arab unit is outnumbered by their opposing unit or a lower status if the unit sizes are equal if within charge distance.

 Arab Recycling

Dice Roll	Outcome	Positioning
2 or less	Bye Bye!	The Unit won’t take any further part in the battle remove from the table.
3-4	Gone but not forgotten	The Unit my re-enter the game at a later time add a further blind on the table behind the most rear blind or Arab unit if no blinds are still in play.
5	Same Idea different place!	The unit re-enters the table on a random table edge using a direction arrow (must be a minimum of 12” from Christian forces). If unable to do so roll again next turn.
6+	Back for more.	The unit re-enters the table 12” immediately behind where it was forced to slink away. (If this takes it out of play counts as bye bye.)
Dice Modifiers +1 for each unit the first time it tests for removal/return. -1 For each unit the Arab player has already said ‘bye bye!’ to in this game. -1 For each Arab unit destroyed.

Richard I Personnel Bodyguard - Third Crusade

Just missing the November deadline as the weather was crap to varnish.

Bored of the white and having quite a cluster of foot knights, I opted for a small unit of foot knights to act as a personnel bodyguard for Richard I

Are they accurate, did they really fight at the battle of Acre or Arsuf in this level of plate and chain. I am sure others have a view, but they give me an option on the field of battle.

These 'Chamber Knights' will compliment the Knights Templar.

Battle models from Fire Forge games - They will fight as Elite Foot under the Lion Rampant rules.

December is upon us....The gaming table is under pressure from the rest of the house to turn it into a storage unit as Christmas descends on the house... Perhaps one or two games if I am lucky.